1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat pump process and apparatus which is applicable to the generation of electrical power, production of mechanical power, and cooling of dishcarges from nuclear and thermal electrical generating plants and more particularly to a process and apparatus comprising an evaporator and a condenser where the heating necessary to cause evaporation in the evaporator and the cooling necessary to cause condensing in the condenser are obtained from warm and cold fluid sources.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The shortage of oil and natural gas is rapidly becoming a significant problem for producers of electrical energy and well as other processors that require large amounts of energy to process their products. As the supplies of the fossilized fuels are diminishing and their costs escalating, it is necessary to investigate the so-called natural energies such as hydro power, solar energy, indirect solar energy, etc. One of the many faceted solutions to the present energy crisis appears to lie in the utilization of the the energy differentials existing between two fluid sources at different temperatures, such as are present in tropical ocean waters wherein the warm ocean surface waters are at temperatures considerably higher than the cold deep ocean waters.
Although the total energy existing in two large fluid sources at different temperatures is enormous, the specific energy, the energy existing per unit of weight or mass is very small indeed, necessitating new and novel techniques and cycles to utilize the small amount of specific energy available to do productive work.
The heat pump has been known as one of the most efficient methods for heating and cooling with the application of small amounts of external energy. Application of heat pump principles appear to offer the solutions for obtaining usable energy from the aforementioned energy sources with low specific energies. Previously, heat pump systems have been designed to obtain the maximum amount of heat transfer from one source to another souce with the minimum amount of power applied. To utilize heat sources of low specific energy for the production of energy, it is now necessary to devise heat pump systems that will produce the maximum amount of energy with the minimum amount of heat energy applied.
Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide a process and an apparatus which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the pertinent art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved heat pump system which is operable to produce mechanical power and/or electrical power using a warm fluid source for supplying heat to offset the heat loss which occurs during vaporization of a refrigerant and a cold fluid source to effect condensing of the refrigerant vapors.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a process an an apparatus into which a prime mover is driven by the pressure difference between the evaporator section of the apparatus, and the lower saturation pressure of the refrigerant in the condenser section of the apparatus.
It is another object of this invention to provide a means of converting all or part of the output of the said prime mover to electrical energy by means of an electrical generator and an electrical control means.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a controlled means of returning the condensed refrigerant from the condenser means to the evaporator means to replace the refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator means.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a means of controlling the speed of the prime mover means regardless of variations in the load on the generator means, by means of a control valve means and conduit means in parallel with the prime mover means which is capable of by-passing a portion of the flow of refrigerant vapors from the evaporator means to the condenser means, thereby controlling the pressure across the prime mover means.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger means and a pump means to bring the refrigerant in the evaporator means into thermal contact with the warm fluid source, effectively replacing the heat of vaporization lost in the evaporator means by the evaporating of the refrigerant.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger means within the condenser means wherein the refrigerant vapors in the condenser means are brought into thermal contact with the cooling fluid to remove the heat of condensation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a closed system in which a refrigerant is present at saturation pressures corresponding to the saturation pressures for the given refrigerant at the various temperatures that are present in the system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prime mover of the positive displacement type with the lowest possible volumetric efficiency in order to derive the maximum power from the existing and available pressure differentials while requiring the least mass flow of refrigerant vapors and subsequently requiring the least energy from the fluid sources.
Other objects and a fuller understanding of this invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the description and the claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.